Wednesday, July 24, 2013

What is Giles Coreys' role in "The Crucible"?

Giles Corey is also used by the author to illustrate the level of hysteria that grips Salem in 1692.  When Reverend Hale comes to town, Corey, who is on his third wife, Martha, and is not very educated, is concerned that his wife reads books.  Of course Giles cannot read the way his wife does, so he is suspicious because his other two wives did not read like Martha.

Corey asks Reverend Hale a simple question that is misinterpreted.  He tells Hale that he cannot pray when his wife is reading her books, once she puts her books down, he can pray again. Hale becomes suspicious of Martha Corey who is arrested for witchcraft.  

Corey is used to show how a simple truth is perverted by the authorities in Salem and used as a weapon to put innocent people in jail and eventually executed.

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